A man pleasured himself in front of a woman at a London court, then told her ‘this is a public building, I can do what I want’. Justin Mcarthy – a serial sex offender with 78 convictions for 156 offences – exposed his penis to the victim at Wood Green Crown Court in 2022, then shouted at her when she called security staff, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
The 44-year-old, from Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney, was outside a courtroom in the afternoon when the victim asked if he needed help. When he said ‘no’, she noticed his hands down his trousers, and soon after he went to a consultation room and began masturbating while staring directly at her, prosecutor Sarah Gabay told the court on Tuesday (April 16).
“She felt scared. She filmed what he was doing. She was scared to call security as she did not want to panic him. He shouted at her ‘why did you call security on me? This is a public building, I can do what I want’,” said Ms Gabay.
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In an almost identical incident one year later in August 2023, outside a different courtroom at Wood Green Crown Court, Mcarthy masturbated in front of a woman holding a baby on her lap, but this time without letting her see his penis directly.
“Mr Mcarthy moved in position to see them. He set up around a corner, exposed his penis and started masturbating,” said Ms Gabay.
After watching the disturbing incident unfold on CCTV, a security guard raced over and found Mcarthy self-gratifying with his eyes on the woman and her child. Security guards and police officers rushed to detain him, but it was ‘quite a struggle’, Ms Gabay explained.
Mcarthy was charged with one count of exposure and one count of outraging public decency, which he pleaded guilty to at Highbury Magistrates on August 10 last year.
Mcarthy’s criminal history includes 35 convictions for sex offences, the latest from April 2017. Ms Gabay argued there was raised harm because of his previous convictions, and because he had masturbated in front of a child.
Defence counsel Bridget Irving said she accepted the raised harm and the aggravation brought by his previous convictions, but she argued the child was too young to be affected by the act and had been out of view at the time.
Ms Irving also said her client had been wrongly diagnosed with schizophrenia, which has a ‘completely different’ treatment plan to his more recent diagnosis of personality disorder. She also warned Mcarthy would become homeless upon his release.
‘You clearly represent a danger to the public’
Judge Alex Gordon expressed frustration that the Crown Prosecution Service failed to provide witness statements, or victim impact statements, which, if providing evidence of raised harm, might have allowed him to pass an extended sentence.
“While an extended sentence would probably be of assistance to Mr Mcarthy and society, I can’t pass one,” he told the court.
Jailing him for 10 months, Judge Gordon told him: “You clearly represent a danger to the public and you have an appalling record. There will become a time in your life where you recognise people are offering you help and are not doing anything but to assist you to lead a law abiding life.
“I’m not going to impose a mental health treatment requirement, but I can’t recommend too highly you should take the services offered by the probation service.”
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